Percentage feeder



E. R. DRAVER. PERCENTAGE FEEDER.

APPLICATION FILED MAYIB. 191s.

Patented Nov. 14, 1922.

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PERCENTAGE FEEDER. APPLICATION FILED MAYIB, 1918.

1 ,4=35,822, Patented Nov. 14', 1922.-

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I PERCENTAGE FEEDER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY18, ms.

1,435,822. Patented Nov. 14, 1922.

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2572322 801585 In z/en'ior- Patented Nov. 14, 1922.

UNITED STATES EMIL R. DRAVER, OF RICHMOND, INDIANA.

PERCENTAGE FEEDER.

Application filed May 18, 1918.

To all who 1a it may concern:

Be it known that I. Earn. R. DRAvnn, a cltlzen oi the Unlted States, residing at Richmond, in the county of lVayne and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful ilmprovements in Percentage Feeders; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention. such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My present invention relates to that type of feeder which is especially useful for feeding granular or ground material, such as grain, flour, and the like, in predetermined quantities, variable, a, will. Particularly, this invention has for its object to improve that type oflfeeder Well known to the trade as the Draver wing type feeder; and to such ends, generally stated the invention consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described andddefined in the claims.

Feeders of this character are adapted to be connected in a battery to a common mixing conveyor for the delivery in certain predetermined proportions of various different kinds of grain, stock or other material which are to be commingled to produce what is known as blends.

It is advisable to provide feeders of this type with a so-called percentage valve which, when moved. into an open position, will open up and direct the stock through a secondary stock passage through which grain may, for short intcrvals, be delivered directly into a suitable receptacle and weighed to determine the amount of that material. which is being fed per unit of time. Such percentage valve, when in a normal position, will close the said secondary passage and direct the stock through a primary passage that delivers the stock to a conveyor or where the battery machines are employed, and a common combined conveyor and mixer. This percentage valve is especially important when a plurality of feeders are connected in a battery for feeding various different kinds or grades of stock to a conveying mixer for the purpose of producing a blend of several stocks.

Hitherto, such percentage valves have been employed but have been placed, not in the primary or main case of the feeder, but in some attached or secondary or remote part.

The present invention, as an important feature, has a percentage valve directly ap- Serial No. 235,339.

plied in the primary or main case of the machine so that it becomes a part of the self-contained or unitary device.

The invention also involves certain improvements in the construction in the wingequipped roller or shaft and associated devices and also includes a novel relative arrangement of the doubleacting variable speed ratchet mechanism, all as will presently appear.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the improved self-contained feeder;

Fig. 2 is a vertical. section taken from the rear on the line 22 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary transverse section on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4; is a rear elevation of the feeder, some parts being broken away; and

Figs. 5 and 6 are fragmentary views in vertical section showing some of the sections of the wing-equipped roller or shaft.

The primary or main case of the machine is made chiefly of laterally spacedside plates 7 a curved but raised bottom plate 8 and a downturned combined top and front plate 9, which parts are rigidly secured together by bolts, rivets, or any other suitable means. The plate is shown as attached to cross channel bars 10 and 11 secured to the side plates 7. The bottom plate 8 is shown as secured to upper and lower cross rods 12 and 1.3, respectively, also secured to said side plates. The numeral. 14 indicates a cross channel bar that rigidly connects the side plates 7 above the rod 12. The numeral 15 indicates an upright boardv plate located below the lower portion of the bottom plate 8 and extended between and suitably connected to the side plates 7 The numeral 16 indicates a cross partition which divides the main. delivery channel of the casing into a main delivery channel. 17 and a secondary or auxiliary discharge channel 18. Between the cross bars 10 and 14, the case is formed with a large intake passage 19. Here it should be noted that the lower portion of the curved top plate 9 extends down far below the lower or delivery edge of the curved bottom plate 8 and forms part of the outer wall of the so-called auxiliary discharge channel 18.

feed. shaft 20 is extended through the casing and journaled in the sides thereof with its axis located vertically midway between the upper portion of the top plate 9 and the lower portion of the bottom plate 8; and this shaft is provided with, a plurality of wing-equipped hubs 21 set on the said shaft, side by side, with their blades progressively, the one in advance of the other, in a circumferential direction so that the said blades are given a sort of a spiral stag-- gered arrangement. The outside members of the wing-equipped hubs 21. are formed with disk-like webs 22 that are spaced from the side plates 7 (see particularly Fig. 3) far enough to prevent grain from being crushed between the same in the said side plates. To prevent the grain from running down into the space between the said side plates and webs 22, segmental. guard strips 23 are screwed or otherwise secured to the interiors of the side plates, best shown in Figs. 2 and 3. These guards 23 extend from the lower portions of the bottom plate 8 circumferentially around. the side webs or disk 22 to points far beyond the tops of the wheels and they overlap the said disk-like webs and project slightly inward thereof. These guards are important because they prevent the grain from running down into the above noted spaces; For feeding of some kind of stock, it is advisable to place the disk-like partitions 2-1 betweeir the winged hubs 21. As shown in Fig. 6 the partitions are merely thin disks bored to receive the feeder shaft on which they are loosely supported.

The percentage valve 25 is secured to pivot shaft 26 that is located directly over the partition 16, extended through the side' plates 7 and provided at one end, with an operating crank 9.8. In some arrangements, this operating crank 28 will be a suliicient operating means for the valve. but preferably, it is connected by a link 29 to the arm 30 of the rock shaft 31. journaled in the side plates 7 below the bottom plate 8 and provided with an operating lever 32.

By reference to Fig. it will be seen that valve 25, when moved into its dotted line position so as to close main channel 17 and open up auxiliary channel 18. engages with. its free edge against the lower delivery portion of the curved bottom plate 8, thereby forming a sort of an inclined extension thereof that bridges the channel 17; and when said valve is moved into its position. shown in full lines, so as to close auxiliary channel 18 and open up main channel 17, it engages the intermediate upright portion of the so-called top plate 9 and bridges the channel 18 at a point far above the lower extension of said plate 9.

The double acting ratchet mechanism in this improved arrangement of the machine is placed below the top of the casing, and at one side thereof, so that economy in height is effected without increasing to any ma terial extent the horizontal dimensions of the machine.

Of the parts of this ratchet mechanism. the numeral 33 indicates; a straight-edged and preferably graduated crank arm rigidly secured to a rock shaft 34 journaled in brackets 35 secured to the side plates 7 of the casing, preferably by nut-equipped bolts which make the same detachable. l /founted to slide on the crank arms is a crosshead 36 that is adjustable by a screw rod 37 equipped with an operating lever 38 and swiveled in a lug on the pivot end of said. arm. This screw rod 37 works with thread-- ed engagement through nonrotary nut 39 held between prongs of the crosshead 36. A short link-l0 connects the arms 33 to a crank 41 carried in the side frames 7 and extends through the casing. means of a set screw 43, the crosshead 36 will be rigidly secured on the arms 33 in. any de sired adjustment. Links 44lconnect the crosshead 36 to arms 45 independently pivoted on the projecting end of the shaft 20. The shaft 42 is shown as provided at one end with a pulley 46 over which a power driven belt may run to impart motion to the running parts of the machine.

The levers 45 are equipped with reversely acting weighted dogs 47 that operate on a ratchet wheel as secured to the shaft 20 outside of the casing. Obviously, with this construction, under rotation of the shaft 4-2, arms 33 will be oscillated and substantially continuous rotary motion will be im. parted to the ratchet wheel 48, and hence. the shaft 20 and the wings 12 carried thereby. lt is also evident that under constant speed of rotation of the shaft 42. any desired rate of rotation may be il'nparted to shaft 20 and its feed mechanism '19. by setting the crosshead 36 in various different adjustments of the oscillating crank arms This arrangement of the ratchet drive mechanism brings all o the parts thereof below the top of the casingand not only adapts the machine for application where there is little overhead space. but leaves the top of the machine clear, so that it will be provided with a large intake passage.

The agitator 49 may be dispensed with in some instances, but for others, is desirable. As shown, this agitator is arranged to work in the intake passage 19 and its arms are secured to a shaft 49* journaled in the side plates 7. For driving the shaft 49 the latter is provided with a sprocket 50 and a sprocket chain 51 runs over this sprocket and over a sprocket 52 on the shaft 20.

The practicability and operativeness of the above .machine has been thoroughly demonstrated in practice.-

' abrupt lower end hat I claim is:

l. A. self-contained feeding device having in combination a casin comprising substan tially parallel side wal s and front and rear end walls, the front wall having its interior surface forme .l on an elongated downwardly extending concave curve terminating in an portion, a rotary feeding device comprising a .plurality of aligned paddle distributers extending between and mounted in said side walls having their axes substantially vertically aligned with the end portion of the front wall, said device being disposed closely adjacent said front wall in close proximity to said end portions, and said rear wall extending from a point above and close to said feeding device substantially vertically aligned with the axis thereof away from the feeding device rearwardly and downwardly in a plane spaced from the end portion of said front wall whereby a receiving space is formed on one side of said feeding device and a discharge space on the other side thereof.

2. A self-ci'intained feeding device having in combination a casing having parallel side walls, front and rear curved walls forming a wide feeding chamber, said front wall extending downwardly and terminating in an abrupt end portion, a rotating feeding device disposed. with its axis in substantial vertical alignment with said end portion, said rear wall spaced from the feeding device and extending downwardly below said end portion of the front wall, a substantially vertical wall extending below said end portion to form with the rear wall a narrow discharge passage, and a pivoted swinging valve having its pivot axis disposed substantially centrally of said discharge outlet and arranged to have its upper edge co-operating with said end portion of the front wall when in one position and co-operating with said rear wall when in its other position, said valve being thus located substantially at one side of said rotating feeding device. 3. The combination with a casing formin a feeding chamber and having front and rear walls, and a plurality of axially aligi'ied vaned feeding devices disposed in said casing and closely adjacent said walls at the top and bottom portions but spaced therefrom laterally, said front wall extending downwardly and terminating in an abrupt to form with said rear wall a discharge out let disposed substantially at one side of said feeding de 'ice, and a swinging blade valve disposed in said outlet having its axis located. above the lower end of said rear wall and of said vertical. wall substantially centrally of said outlet, said valve extending adjacent the end portion of said front wall and contacting with said rear wall. when in its respective positions.

4L A feeding device having in combination, a casing, a shaft extending therethrough, a plurality of separate feeding devices secured thereto comprising hubs and blades extending therefrom, and members disposed between said feeding devices comprising thin disks loosely mounted on said shaft.

5. A self-contained feeding and distributing device having in combination a casing comprising substantially parallel side walls and front and rear end walls the front wall having its interior surface formed on an elongated downwardly extended concave curve terminating in an abrupt lower end portion, a shaft extending through said casing, means for rotating said shaft at variable speed, a plurality of radially vaned distributing and feeding devices secured to said shaft between the side walls of said casing, the axis of said shaft being substantially vertically aligned with the end portion of the front wall, said rear wall extending from a point above said shaft forwardly and downwardly having its interior wall formed on a concave surface, the lower portion of which forms one side of a discharge passage in the casing, and a vertical wall extending downward beneath said front wall of the hopper adjacent the end. thereof forming the other side of the dis-- charge passage of said casing.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EMIL R. DRAVER.

Witnesses ORRIN' DRAVER, C, G. LANCASTER. 

